Hello there! I'm so excited for the weekend -- it's our first official weekend of summer (school's out!!) and this girl is going to a NKOTB concert. (I'm guessing it's my 10th?) Whoot! Summer days and acting like I'm 12 again…it doesn't get any better.
I mentioned yesterday that I'm in a major declutter and decorating mode lately. I haven't wanted to touch a tool for the past few weeks (it happens at times) and I'm more in the mood to "nest" for the summer.
It feels like the new year in some ways -- I just want to get the house working better before we're all home for the summer. I guess I feel like maybe if the clutter is under control I may be able to keep up better with all of us home all day?
I've had so many little piles (I'm a piler) just sitting around lately, and addressing each one individually tends to overwhelm me. So this is my method:
Dump it ALL in one spot. For some reason this big mess is more manageable for me than tons of little ones. It doesn't help that I get distracted easily -- this makes me address it pretty quickly.
It helps that this is the view people see from the front door:
Maybe next time I'll make the pile on the island instead. ;)
Speaking of the island -- I used that for my next step. I LOVE timers when it comes to cleaning and decluttering. As I mentioned, I tend to get distracted easily (squirrel!) and the timer helps me to keep things moving along.
I set it for 20 minutes and made piles on the island. I force myself to make a split second decision on the items when I pick them up -- if I don't know immediately where I want it to go, it goes in the I Don't Have a Clue Pile.
I don't put anything away unless it's literally steps from the spot I'm piling on. I even made a trash pile so I wasn't running to the trash can for every little bit and wasting time:
OK, I know that all looks like a trash pile, but bear with me. My piles were decor to be put away, trash, to-do pile, upstairs, basement, I know exactly where to put this stuff pile and the wonderful I have no clue pile.
It seriously helps my brain that I have that last section. That's where I get hung up every time with clutter.
After everything was in piles I took a quick mental break and then set the timer again -- this time I have to move a little faster. ;) I set it for 20 minutes and gave myself that long to put away as much as I possibly could. This part could also serve as your workout for the day. Ha! I got all but the annoying no clue pile done in that time, and then gave myself a few more minutes to just focus on that.
I also made myself put things away -- no small projects allowed. That's another thing I'll get caught up on…I'll have something to organize or paint or hang and I'll start that little project and then the cleaning up gets conveniently pushed back. I'm no fool. :)
It took about 45 minutes -- maybe a little longer. But all those annoying little piles and bags of stuff that needed to be addressed were tackled and I can't tell you how great that feels!:
And I know, I know…if I just did this every day I wouldn't have to even have this little plan of attack. Some days I do. Some days it's just not in me. The end of the school year kicks my butt, for real.
Do you have a method for quick clean up of those annoying piles? That is if you pile like me? I love this way of doing it -- I think some would much rather address little sections at a time but I like to just get it all done in one fell swoop.
Have a great weekend!!